1,000 HP Low Compression Coyote Engine Build Part 2 – The Long Block

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Last month we brought you the buildup of the shortblock on our Wild E. Coyote project – a 1,000-horsepower-capable base for the the soon-to-be-turbocharged hot rod we’ve been working with since 2011. Our previous combination had served us well but with nearly 50,000 hard miles on the odometer, not only was our Coyote showing age, but it was tired as well. 

During the short block portion, Rich Groh Racing Engines and JPC Racing put together a killer Coyote for us using the finest in aftermarket hardware, including a set of JE‘s forged slugs, an octet of Manley‘s Pro Billet I-beam connecting rods, and a factory forged crankshaft. Groh applied his engine building tricks to the bottom end in preparation for installing the top end, which is the focus of this article.

Flowing More Air

As Groh had already put together the bulletproof short block, we turned right back to him to provide the port work on the stock Coyote cylinder head castings. “I’ve worked with Ferrea to develop the larger valve size for these castings, as I developed ports for these heads when they first came out. You can’t go any larger without pulling all of the seats out of the head and replacing them all. Going one millimeter larger is sufficient for the stock seats without any issues. Without spending thousands of dollars on new copper-beryllium seats and the machine work to go with it, this is the perfect design.” Groh said.

Left - The four-valve configuration of the Coyote cylinder head allows for an increased valve area within the same cylinder when compared to a pushrod design. Left Middle - RGR Engines ported the stock cylinder head castings for us, working on specific areas to improve flow without hurting velocity. Right Middle - To go along with our brand-new valves, Groh replaced all of the valve guides in the cylinder heads. Right - As described, our Livernois Motorsports spring package dropped right into place with no modifications needed. They will help provide better valvetrain stability at high RPM and under high boost pressure.

Improving the exhaust side is key to making power with these heads. – Rich Groh, RGR Engines

JPC Racing offers three different levels of porting, and Groh said, “All of the port design work is done here in-house by me.  I spent probably four months on the flowbench developing port profiles when the heads first hit the market. These valves are ideal in size for what we’re trying to achieve horsepower-wise, and economical enough to work with the stock casting. The head castings do vary quite a bit from the factory and there are areas where we touch and don’t touch due to the factory casting shift, depending upon what stage portwork we perform,” said Groh.

“The most critical place to perform the work is on the short-turn radius and in the bowl. On the stage two stuff, also in the combustion chamber. The cross-section going into the intake is plenty large enough, and you want to keep that cross-section small, especially on a 302 cubic inch engine. The only way Ford is even able to keep the heads working well in the stock application is because they’re controlling the camshafts hydraulically. Improving the exhaust side is the key to making power with these heads. Of course, the custom valve job we perform on the Newen CNC machine is also critical,” he explains. Our long block relies on a set of the RGR/JPC Stage 2 cylinder heads.

RGR/JPC Stage 1 Heads ($2,495.95) Include:

  • Exchange Basis Only, Cores Required
  • Fully Assembled
  • RGR Custom Competition Valve Job On Newen CNC Single Point Machine
  • New Bronze Valve Guides (removal of old guides and installation/sizing of new ones included
  • New Ford Valve Seals
  • Custom Machining of Intake and Exhaust Valves
  • Deck Clean Up
  • Port Volume 201cc intake, 84cc exhaust
  • Max Flow 320cfm Intake, 222 cfm exhaust at .650-inch lift

Stage 2 Heads ($3,495.95) Add:

  • Ferrea Oversized 1.500-inch (38mm, 1mm over stock) Stainless Steel Intake Valves
  • Ferrea Oversized 1.262-inch (32mm, 1mm over stock) Stainless Steel Exhaust Valves
  • Port Volume 202cc Intake, 85cc Exhaust
  • Max Flow 337 cfm Intake, 235 cfm exhaust at .650-inch lift

Stage 3 Heads ($3,895.99) Add:

  • Port Volume 208cc Intake, 88cc Exhaust
  • Max Flow 342 cfm Intake, 249 cfm exhaust at .650-inch lift

All numbers from Superflow 600 at 28 inches of water on a 3.630-inch stock bore. Exhaust flow calculated with a 1 3/4 inch pipe and standard compression.

Although the Comp Cams intake and exhaust camshafts are sold as their NSR (No Springs Required) design, we went ahead and upgraded the springs in our engine for a bit of safety and security.

Although the Comp Cams intake and exhaust camshafts are sold as their NSR (No Springs Required) design, we went ahead and upgraded the springs in our engine so we can turn the engine at higher RPMs without the fear of valve float.

Cam Technology

Billy Godbold and the team at Comp Cams in Tennessee have had a ton of success with various engine customers in the Coyote world, and rather than dig through a catalog and pick out cams that might work, we decided Goldbolld’s input would be most valuable for this portion of the build.

Think of it like this – instead of seeing foamy Coke go through the port, you’re shoving a Frosty through the port. – Billy Godbold, Comp Cams

“People think that once you put a turbocharger onto an engine that your port velocities go up. Take an engine that makes 400 horsepower naturally aspirated and 800 horsepower boosted – your first thought is that the air is traveling that much quicker through the port. But if you actually put a speed gun in the port, you’d see that the 800 horsepower engine actually has slower port velocity, and the reason for that is that the air charge is much denser. In a naturally-aspirated engine, the 228-lobe intake camshaft will only support 7,000 rpm – but in a boosted application like this, it will support 7,500 to 8,000 rpm, because the port velocity is slower. The mass flow is a lot higher, but the actual port velocity is a lot lower. Think of it like this -instead of seeing foamy Coke go through the port, you’re shoving a Frosty through the port,” says Godbold.

In our application, the intake cams are part number 191100 and specs are .492-inch of intake lift combined with the 228-degrees of duration on 126-degree lobe separation. The exhaust camshafts are part number 191060 and feature .453-inch lift and 223 degrees of duration – well above the stock 211-degree number and even greater when you take into account that those figures can be moved around via tuning.

Ferrea Valves

Limiting Phase

We previously wrote about how the Comp Cams phaser limiters work, but to give a quick rundown, they physically limit the maximum cam phasing to 20-25 degrees of crankshaft rotation rather than the factory’s 50-degree limitation, which, when combined with proper tuning, allows the Coyote’s engine computer with the larger camshafts without fear of piston-to-valve contact. By locking down the amount of camshaft movement, the Comp engineers were able to design camshafts with more aggressive ramps, higher lift, and longer durations to take advantage of the Coyote’s excellent flow characteristics. 

In any big-power build like this, deep breathing is an absolute necessity. We also need internal components that can withstand the intense heat a turbocharger can inflict upon them. To that end, we went straight to the valve wizards at Ferrea to discuss the parts that would best fit our application.

Ferrea’s Zeke Urrutia explained, “With multi-valve engines like this, you usually want to stick with a specific size, which in this case is 1mm oversized from stock – the intake valves [PN F2243P] are 38.1mm (1.50-inch) in diameter, and the exhaust valves [PN F2245P] are 32.05mm (1.242-inch) in diameter. The reasons for the larger valves are twofold; on the intake valve you’re increasing flow on the front side of the combustion chamber, and on the back side, you’re allowing for quicker flow out of the exhaust port. By going larger than these sizes, you can get into an area where it can hurt flow due to the induction turbulence.”

The installation of the turbocharger requires the use of specific materials to live under the increased cylinder pressure and heat that the turbo creates. Ferrea specified very particular material in our application. The intake valves are constructed from their VV50 material, which carries a high tensile strength and high heat handling capabilities, with a 1,600° Fahrenheit max capability.

On the exhaust side, Nimonic 90 is used, blended with their Nickelvac N80A material, and this material is also used for its improved tensile strength and the 2,400° temperature handling capability. The various metal blends help to reduce the chances of thermal fatigue from the extreme combustion chamber temperatures our turbocharger will induce.

Our Ferrea valves are crafted from aerospace alloys that are designed specifically to withstand incredibly intense heat, like our turbocharged combination will produce.

Our Ferrea valves are crafted from aerospace alloys that are designed specifically to withstand incredibly intense heat. The triple-groove configuration permits the re-use of stock retainers and locks.

Springs

Valve springs and head studs were sourced from Livernois Motorsports, who also provided their exclusive ARP-manufactured main studs for the bottom end portion of the build. Their drop-in spring upgrade [PN LPP50-TVS-1733] is designed to work with all of the factory hardware, which means there is no added cost for special retainers, spring cups, or seals, and they do not require any extra machining. Installed at 1.575-inch, they provide 70 pounds of pressure on the seat and 190 pounds open, and will handle up to .580-inch of camshaft lift. Groh’s trick is to add a slight shim to the bottom of the spring seat to increase the seat pressure around 25 pounds.

Induction

The last two elements to the inlet side of our airflow package came in the form of one of Ford Racing’s BOSS 302 intake manifolds [PN M-9424-M50BR] and a big-bore 90mm throttle body from BBK [PN 18210]. Since our new engine is capable of spinning way past the 7,000 rpm spot on the dashboard dial, adding the BOSS 302 composite manifold was a no-brainer in our application when camshaft selection was taken into account.

Left - Our BOSS 302 intake manifold is one of the production components that has yet to be improved upon by the aftermarket - it handles high-RPM operation with nary a whimper. Right - Check out the difference between the stock throttle body on the left and our huge-by-large 90mm BBK unit on the right.

The BOSS intake features straight-shot, short runners that have been tuned for a 7,750 rpm power peak, which will mesh well with our camshaft selection. As original equipment on the BOSS Mustang, the intake’s performance has been well documented on the track with everything from street going BOSS 302 models to the Ford Racing 302S and R road-race models. The composite design has been tested to 30 psi of boost pressure and should serve us well.

Thanks to the Mustang’s drive-by-wire design, the BBK Power Plus throttle body carries a bit more complexity than in years past. The electronics are mounted on the side and the integral drive motor is housed internally; this all-new 356 aluminum casting is completely CNC-machined and will offer us the ultimate option for our engine. It also comes with a separate tapered spacer to help it match up cleanly with the FRPP BOSS manifold.

On The Outside

With all of the inlet-side parts taken care of, save for our turbo system (which we’ll cover in a future article), we needed to set up our Coyote with a set of exhaust headers. Since the JPC Racing turbo system is designed to match up with factory-exit-location manifolds, the decision was made to look for a set of aftermarket shorty headers to best supply it. JBA Performance Exhaust Company was started in 1987 to provide the aftermarket with smog-legal shorty headers for the Fox-body Mustang, and in the years since has enlarged their product line to cover dozens of vehicles in a variety of configurations.

JBA Cat4ward headers on top, stock pipes on the bottom. Better flow. Period.

JBA Cat4ward headers on top, stock pipes on the bottom. Better flow. Period.

After discussion with the team at JBA, the decision was made to use a set of their Cat4ward Shorty headers in a titanium-coated finish [PN 1685SJT]. The headers use a 1.75-inch primary tube and are constructed from stainless steel. They feature a one-piece 3/8-inch thick flange design and are constructed to attach directly to the stock-style collector. On a normal application, the headers provide increased horsepower and torque throughout the RPM range, and offer improved throttle response. The titanium coating will help to reduce the underhood temperature as well while keeping the heat in the tubes, which is of paramount importance for a turbo application such as ours.

The “Extras”

Even though we started with a complete engine. Rick Riccardi at Downs Ford Motorsport was a huge help in procuring some of the ancillary parts needed to complete the build. His knowledge of both OEM and performance Ford parts proved an invaluable resource during this project.

The Ford Racing Boss 302 head changing kit comes with a great set of MLS head-gaskets that will keep our Coyote sealed up.

The Ford Racing Boss 302 head changing kit comes with a great set of MLS head-gaskets that will keep our Coyote sealed up.

Riccardi set us up with a Ford Racing Parts BOSS 302 Head Changing Kit [PN M-6067-M50BR], which includes a set of BOSS 302 head gaskets and high-strength 12mm torque-to-yield head bolts, although we’ll be discarding those in favor of our Livernois head studs. The gaskets are constructed from multi-layer steel and will help to keep the cylinder pressure in the cylinders, and the coolant in the water jackets.

We also procured a set of Ford Racing BOSS 302 timing chain tensioners [PN M-6266-M50B]. There’s a recurring theme here in the use of BOSS parts – when the factory gets it right, you don’t need to stray far away. The BOSS tensioners are designed for improved chain durability in high-rpm applications and are even used in the 2013 Cobra Jet engine program. The kit includes the primary and secondary tensioners and their bolts.

ATI Performance Products has been producing engine dampers for decades now, and in the interest of ensuring that our Coyote doesn’t see any unwanted vibrations, we installed one of their standard-dimension Super Dampers [PN 918047] on the nose of Wild E.’s new crankshaft. Our sister magazine Dragzine did an article on the science of vibration damping previously, so we’ll spare you an in-depth conversation on the topic. To put it simply, the single job of the damper is to eliminate torsional crankshaft vibrations induced under normal engine operation, and the Super Damper does an admirable job of it. It exceeds SFI’s 18.1 spec, features laser-engraved 360-degree timing marks, and is completely rebuildable.

Our ATI Performance Products damper retains the serpentine drive for the air-conditioning belt. After all, what good is a thousand-horsepower car in SoCal without A/C?

Our ATI Performance Products damper retains the serpentine drive for the air-conditioning belt. After all, what good is a thousand-horsepower car in SoCal without A/C?

We topped off the engine with a set of Aeromotive fuel rails and  Injector Dynamics ID1000 fuel injectors that flow 1015 cc./min. at 43.5 psi, which equates to a 96 lb./hr. injector. These have been proven in competition conditions and will do exactly what we need – keep the fuel flowing smoothly into the CNC-ported cylinder heads so that our Granatelli Pro Series Xtreme coils (which we previously wrote about) can fire it off. Granatelli’s coils feature a unique, patented isolator ring that is designed to eliminate electrical noise to the coil, providing it with a cleaner signal.

Injector Dynamics ID1000

Aeromotive fuel rails and Injector Dynamics ID1000 injectors will provide all of the fuel we can suck down.

Aeromotive fuel rails and Injector Dynamics ID1000 injectors will provide all of the fuel our engine can suck down.

Since fuel injectors are dynamic (never working under just one operating condition but constantly being adjusted and re-adjusted by the ECU), having reams and reams of data at hand are critical to providing a quality product that will perform as advertised. The Injector Dynamics team tests each individual injector in an environment that simulates real-world conditions, including temperature-controlled fuels, in order to provide the information that your tuner will require to properly set up the tune for your car. Once the injectors are tested, they are placed into matched sets that are based on their flow across the pulsewidth range, and this provides excellent cylinder to cylinder accuracy – critical in a turbocharged, street-going application like ours.

Injector Dynamics’ Tony Palo explained, “All of our injectors run through a 30 minute break in process before any modification and testing to ensure the test results are as they will be in the field. Injectors ‘break in’ from new and their characteristics will change. A brand new matched set of injectors will vary after the coil, valve, and seat has been ‘broken in’.”

He continued, “Typical matching is done as a static flow, but that’s not how the injector works; it’s constantly pulsed. The dead time of the injector is considered the response time. The lower the injector pulsewidth is – at idle, for instance – the bigger the dead time is as a percentage of total on time. So you can have something that’s a nice tight match on a static flow test, but it can be 10, 15, 20 percent off at two milliseconds because of a variance in dead time from one injector to the next. Our matching takes place all the way across the pulsewidth range, so when we say plus or minus one percent, that’s everywhere, and that’s the big difference in how we match our injectors.”

The Final Bits

Our Canton Racing Products road-race style oilpan had a couple of additional ports added in - give them a call if you need a beautiful TIG-welded, trap-door-equipped pan - or even a stock replacement.

Our Canton Racing Products road-race style oilpan had a couple of additional ports added in – give them a call if you need a beautiful TIG-welded, trap-door-equipped pan – or even a stock replacement.

On the bottom side of the engine, we needed to wrap things up with an oil pan to provide the dino-juice a place to rest on its journey around the engine, and for that we selected a road race-style pan from Canton Racing Products [PN 15-734]. The package features a windage tray and diamond-shaped baffle assembly with four trap doors to keep the oil from riding up the crankshaft under heard driving conditions. We had them customize it with an additional drain-back port for the turbocharger’s oil feed and an oil temperature port to work best in our application.

Of course, with a turbocharged application like this that’s bound to generate quite a bit of heat, we needed to make sure that the Coyote innards and cylinder heads are kept cool. For that task, we looked in the direction of Meziere Enterprises for an electric Coyote water pump.

The WP342S Street Style Electric Water Pump from Meziere features a CNC-machined thermostat housing and is a bolt-on replacement for the factory mechanical water pump. As they did with the original Modular-style water pumps, Meziere incorporated an idler pulley assembly on the front of the pump to ensure that the stock belt routing doesn’t change, but the addition of the electric pump in place of the mechanical one frees up nearly ten horsepower at the wheels. The 55 gallon-per-minute free flow rating means that the pump will supply all the water you need and then some, and the beautiful black finish will look at home on any street-going Coyote machine. 

Meziere's electric water pump accepts the factory thermostat housing and heater tube, making it a true bolt-in installation, save for a couple of small wiring tasks to provide power.

Meziere’s electric water pump accepts the factory thermostat housing and heater tube, making it a true bolt-in installation, save for a couple of small wiring tasks to provide power.

It offers a stainless steel main shaft with a ceramic high performance seal, weighs in at 9.1 pounds, and comes with all of the gaskets, hardware, and fittings. Meziere’s main man, Don Meziere, remarked, “In our experience, the factory water pumps in the late model applications are not designed for sustained operation above 6,000 rpm. The factory pump works very well at lower RPM, but once you get into the range where we compete with these engines, they are not very efficient.” Since the Meziere electric pump is not RPM-dependent, it doesn’t face any of those issues. The available wiring harness [PN WIK346] provides a Bosch 30 amp relay, connectors, wire leads and a detailed set of instructions for a trouble-free installation. 

Last, but certainly not least, we attacked the appearance department topside thanks to the help of American Muscle with a sweet set of their pre-painted Sterling Gray coil covers that match our car’s paint color. These are OE on the BOSS 302, carry a “POWERED BY FORD” logo, and fit all 2011-2014 5.0L Coyote engines.

Parts Used

  • JPC Racing/RGR CNC Stage 2 Cylinder Heads – PN 1295
  • Comp Cams Stage II Intake Cams 228 Duration at .050, .492 lift and 126 degree lobe separation – PN 191100
  • Comp Cams Stage I Exhaust Cams 223 Duration at .050, .453 Lift and 126 degree lobe separation – PN 191060
  • Comp Cams Phaser Limiters – PN 5493
  • Ferrea 1.500 Stainless Intake Valves – PN F2243P — 1.262 Exhaust Valves – PN F2245P
    Our longblock nearly buttoned-up. After this it's time for a crate and the shipment back to our Southern California HQ for installation along with the JPC Racing turbo system.

    Our long block nearly buttoned-up. After this it’s time for a crate and the shipment back to our Southern California HQ for installation along with the JPC Racing turbo system.

  • Livernois Valve Springs, 70 Pounds Closed Spring Pressure, 190 Pounds Open – PN LPP50-TVS-1733
  • Livernois 12mm Head Stud Kit – PN LPP50LMHSKIT
  • Ford Racing BOSS 302R Head Changing Kit – PN M-6067-M50BR
  • Ford Racing BOSS 302 Intake Manifold – PN M-9424-M50BR
  • Injector Dynamics 96 lb./hr. Injectors – PN ID1000
  • Aeromotive Fuel Rails – PN 14130
  • BBK Big Bore 90 mm Throttle Body – PN 18210
  • Meziere 55 gpm Electric Water Pump – PN WP342S
  • Canton Racing Products Road Race Oil Pan – PN 15-734
  • ATI Performance Products Super Damper – PN 918047
  • Ford Racing BOSS 302 Timing Tensioners – PN M-6266-M50B
  • JBA Cat4ward Shorty Headers, 1-3/4-inch Primaries, Titanium Cermaic Coated – PN 1685SJT

Almost Time For Install

This finishes off the construction of our long-block, and the next step in our project will be to stuff all of this blingy goodness between the framerails of Wild E. Coyote. We’ll be doing that in the upcoming weeks, so stay tuned for the article detailing the engine install, turbocharger system install, and dyno testing of our thousand-horse street stormer.

Article Sources

About the author

Jason Reiss

Jason draws on over 15 years of experience in the automotive publishing industry, and collaborates with many of the industry's movers and shakers to create compelling technical articles and high-quality race coverage.
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